(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-15 15:05

BEIJING -- A 3-year-old little girl in UK could develop the signs of puberty and doctors blame hormones in food and water for the premature, media reported Tuesday.

Ellie-May Holden, now 8 years old, began showing signs of breast growth and had the "bone age" of a nine-year-old when she was only 3, and developed temper tantrums just like adolescents.

"She used to slam doors and try and hit me. We'd go to supermarkets and she'd lie on the floor screaming. At the time, I just thought I had an 'Omen' child," said Hayley, the girl's mom.

The toddler is only one of the growing numbers of UK children who suffer premature and need hormone injections to stave off puberty.

A 10-year-old girl's mother Bernie said her baby was shaving her armpits and legs at the age of 5.

Other pre-school youngsters even experience periods that normally start in their teens.